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Consumers Can Profit From Hotel Makeovers

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

April 8, 2006
The Seven Year Itch is a big factor in the hotel business too. It seems that no reputable property waits much longer to undergo massive makeovers that make artwork, draperies, and furnishings expendable. That's where the public can profit.

Liquidators charge about 25 per cent of the typical retail price for beds, desks, chairs, credenzas, and electronic equipment acquired from hotels. They even operate showrooms and websites designed to keep furniture moving.

Sometimes, their acquisitions are so good that they remain in the hotel industry � in smaller, less upscale properties seeking to upgrade with castoffs from the top hotels and resorts.

"When hotels want their stuff out, they want it out," said Chicago liquidator Kurt Karchmer in a perfect imitation of Yogi Berra. "I have a glut of stuff. We're getting stuff that's barely used."

Karchmer's company, Cooper Used Hotel Furniture, is one of two major players in Chicago, along with Fort Pitt Furniture Liquidators. Others are located in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Colorado, Connecticut, Ohio, and Texas.

Several of the firms report they cleared 10,000 hotel rooms last year � a significant increase over the year before. The California-based Hotel Surplus Outlet cleared the 570 rooms of the Beverly Hilton last year and will soon add furnishings from the Regent Beverly Wilshire, another upscale property.

Hotels pay liquidators about $100 per room to take old furnishings off their hands, then sell it to the public, to nursing homes, or to hotels one step down the luxury ladder. The result is a bonanza for bargain hunters.

Consumers don't seem to mind used furniture as long as it is undamaged.

Even interior decorators are getting into the act, purchasing hotel surplus to furnish homes they hope to sell.

Guests of the Kiptopeke Inn of Cape Charles, Va. might experience a sensation of deja vu if they've ever stayed at the J.W. Marriott in downtown Washington � the general manager of the Virginia property purchased in bulk items the Marriott no longer wanted.

"The unique thing was the hotel the furnishings came from," Matt Diamond explained. "If they were from budget hotels, I wouldn't have taken the trip (to Washington)."

The price is right for consumers too, with buyers purchasing both individually and in "room sets," with beds, armoires, lamps, tables, and more selling for one set price.

For further information, see www.fortpittfurniture.com (Tel. 773-247-3523); www.hotelsurplus.com (Tel. 323-780-7474); www.ircahotelservices.com

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